That Feeling
by drinktea
Summary: Rated because of Reno's potty mouth. Underneath their 'fine I'm fine' façades they undergo a flurry of emotions anxiety, embarassment and... love? AU. ReTi.


  


**That Feeling**

  
  
_Disclaimer: All FFVII/FFVII: AC characters belong to Squenix, I don't own any of their pretty little faces, now you can't sue me, the usual yadda yadda._   
  
Sakura-Angel: Oh gosh. I never thought this ficlet would see the light of day. I just started writing on an impulse, but now another impulse is making me post it... Geez. I have recently read a [small] bunch of Tifa x Reno stories and this pairing interests me, strangely enough. I am actually a huge Cloti fan, and this is my first attempt at writing FFVII, so sorry if there's OOC scattered throughout. Reno is pretty hard to write, considering they explore the Turks very little in the game. So maybe that's part of what compelled me to write this, it was a challenge. Anyway, enough with boring you to death, you came here for the story.   
  
--------   
  
Tifa Lockheart sat at a moist counter in a room full of slightly tipsy, slightly sweaty, young adults. _'How did I get here?' _She hit her head lightly. _'I'm so stupid!' _Her thoughts took her back to an hour ago.   
  
--------   
  
She was lounging on her couch in her condo with her hair tied back in her usual ponytail, dressed in a standard white t-shirt and a simple pair of jeans when the doorbell rung. "Coming," she said, forcing herself off the couch.   
  
The door swung open.   
  
"Reno!" Tifa said, mildly surprised at the figure leaning on the doorframe casually. "What are you doing here... at nine in the evening?"   
  
"What, no hello?" his voice sounded a bit edgy. The flamboyant redhead stepped through the threshold, hands now in his pockets.   
  
Tifa sealed off the portal to the dimming sky and turned her attention towards the man making steps toward her living room. "Sorry... It's just that we saw each other today already," her demeanour was weakening.   
  
Reno stopped in mid-stride, landing him in the middle of the hallway. His hands were stuck in his pockets still and he turned his body ever so slightly. His voice didn't lose it's edge. "So I'm not allowed to visit after that?" His neck craned towards her. Her left hand was rubbing her right elbow subconciously. Reno lost a bit of his apprehensiveness. _'Is she... nervous?'_   
  
"No. No, it's not that." Her hair formed a curtain around her face.   
  
He turned his body fully towards her now. "So... what's the matter?" His eyebrow went up, a genuine look of concern on his face.   
  
She looked him over once. White pants. Black collared shirt, three buttons undone. Professional black shoes. The usual pair of sunglasses perched on top of his head. Lanky as ever. "Nothing." She tried to lift the cloud of uneasiness she had set. Her tone of voice changed easily; lighter, more mischievous. "It's just that whenever you show up this late, I know you want something." She grinned.   
  
Reno relaxed a bit more, taking advantage of her sudden mood swing. "Must be that killer instinct of yours that says something, hey?" He ran his hand through his already mussed hair. He had been friends with her long enough to know that she had amazing intuition. "Yeah," he started leaning against the staircase railing. "You wanna go to that new club downtown tonight? Have some fun?" He noticed that they were somehow standing closer to each other. "We haven't done something like that in ages," he chanced a look at her again. She was fidgeting with her shirt. "But if you don't want to, I'm not saying you gotta." His shoulder went up, his head cocked to one side and his chin stuck out a bit more, an expectant look on his face.   
  
She wondered briefly at his unsure statement and then at why he asked _her _of all people to go with him. He knew she was no party animal. But then she was hit with the possibility that he could-- _'No.' _She flushed a little and jerked her head down.   
  
"Teef?"   
  
At the sound of his voice, she flushed again. _'God, I'm acting like a teenager.' _"Yeah, I'll come. Just... let me get my coat." She flew past him and climbed the stairs.   
  
"Put something a little nicer on!" he yelled up the corridor, blatant as ever. "No sense in hiding that body of yours!"   
  
She suddenly appeared above him on the stairs and playfully whapped his head.   
  
"Ow!" he remarked, pretending to be hurt. He knew she could hit harder.   
  
She just looked at him crossly and smirked. She retreated back into her room.   
  
He grinned after her, happy with himself. He resumed leaning on the staircase railing and did a sweep of what he could see. _'It's so clean. At least compared to my place.' _He blew air out his nose, amused. He then took in the scent of the place. It always smelt so fresh. Like sunshine and grass and rain. He wondered where that comparison came from [he sure didn't think like that] and realized he'd heard her saying something like that once. Alert as he was, he jerked his head around, sensing movement at the top of the staircase. He came around so that he was standing at the foot of the stairs.   
  
"This good enough?" Tifa had a hand on her hip, awaiting an answer. She was clad in a blinding blue off-the-shoulder top that exposed her [very toned, Reno noted] midriff. She complimented the shirt with a black miniskirt and a few silver bangles around her right wrist and her usual earrings.   
  
Reno blinked a couple times and steadied himself against the wall. His reply was a long, appreciative whistle.   
  
Tifa smiled a little embarassedly and closed her eyes. "Thanks," she made her way down the stairs to the foyer.   
  
"Tifa, Tifa, Tifa," the name sweet on his tongue, "I didn't mean _that _nice. Do you want every hormonal guy in there throwing themselves at you?" He could see them all in his mind's eye, swarming her, leaving him on the edge of the crowd. He felt an unfamiliar pang of... what? Jealousy? His actions and expression betrayed none of what he what thinking.   
  
She whirled around and narrowed an eye. "I'm not _that _pretty," and she turned around again to put on her boots.   
  
Reno scoffed a little and proceeded to speak his mind. "Are you kidding me? You're amazing! You're drop-dead gorgeous! Men will come to you like moths to a flame!"   
  
"Reno," Tifa sounded a little tired, "Thank you for all the compliments, but I really think that you're a bit delusional."   
  
Reno scoffed again and replied in his usual aloof manner, "I think not." He pulled open the door for her.   
  
"Thank you."   
  
"Yeah, whatever."   
  
--------   
  
The car ride there was lighthearted, though tinged with awkwardness. The awkwardness only increased as the pair made their way to the club from Reno's parking space.   
  
"You're still going to get ambushed."   
  
"Reno."   
  
"What?"   
  
She turned to him, intent on a verbal beating for his joking about her being "hot", but she saw that he was being sincere for once. "Why are you so worried about guys swarming me? I can take care of myself, you know."   
  
"I know," his head turned so he could look at her. For once, he was at a loss for words. She seemed to have that effect on him. What else could he say? I'd get... jealous because I think I'm in love with you? _'Yeah. Right.'_   
  
She didn't push for an answer. Instead, she felt his gaze and turned so she could meet it. At the sight of his piercing green eyes, layered with faint blue, she felt as if her mind went numb. She couldn't form a coherent thought. She walked into a lamppost. Tifa fell back, expecting to hit the ground, but Reno, with his scarily sharp senses, acted fast and caught her.   
  
Reno held her securely and let out a small chuckle. "You alright?"   
  
His smile seemed to put an end to her brain freeze. Now she was burning up. _'Tifa Lockheart, you are _such _a teenager.' _"Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine." She put on a nervous smile.   
  
He helped her up graciously. _'This girl is doing something to me.'_   
  
As they walked down the street, Tifa ignored the scalding looks she got from the female crowd. Reno did the same with the men. He cleared his throat and stabbed his thumb in the direction of the club. "This is it."   
  
The bouncer looked them over and decided that they were definetely old enough to enter. That girl... whoo.   
  
Tifa looked up at the sign. "That Feeling? What a weird name for a club," she walked in nonetheless.   
  
Reno's eyebrows went up and he thought to himself, _'It's also quite suggestive,' _and he followed her in.   
  
--------   
  
The club's interior was impressive, despite it's stupid name, Tifa thought to herself. Lights lavished pretty much everything, as did plants. Dead centre in the middle of the dancefloor was the bar, like a little island in the sea of [what would people going clubbing be called? Clubbers? -- Tifa laughed to herself]. The bar was pretty well stocked, Tifa would know. Around the sides and back were stationed small, rather modern-looking tables and chairs and a few more cushy chairs. The club had two floors, although the second seemed more like half a floor, since it came off the walls and allowed people sitting at the tables a view of the ground floor.   
  
Tifa turned to smile at Reno, as if thanking him for bringing her with him, and he went unexpectedly weak in the knees. _'When did I get so fucking soft?' _All he could do was smile back and lead her to the bar. The pair dodged elbows, high-heeled feet, and in Tifa's case, wandering hands, to get to the bar, where Reno turned to speak to her. And well, maybe to look at her. She was really gorgeous after all. "So, what do you want? You're on the other side of the counter for once," he added, just because it was something he noticed.   
  
"Yeah I am," she noticed as well.   
  
Reno noticed some _other _things too, like how she wasn't wearing makeup, except for some clear gloss on her lips. Like how she moved ever so slightly to the music all around them, and how she was looking him right in the eyes with that soft, sort of concerned expression.   
  
"You look dazed. Something wrong?"   
  
Reno responded with a curt 'no' and continued nudging Tifa for her decision on what drink she'd like.   
  
"How about..." she dragged on longer just to tease him.   
  
"You're wasting time that we could be spending having fun..." he pretended to be annoyed.   
  
"A tequila sunset," she finished.   
  
Reno gave a mock 'finally' expression and turned around and asked the bartender for her drink. He didn't order one for himself, strangely enough. He turned around again, ready to whisk her off to the dancefloor, just when another guy cut in between the pair, obviously thinking the same thing.   
  
"Hey pretty, wanna dance?"   
  
Reno eyed the sweet-talker strangely. He looked kind of young... _'Here I am doing the jealous boyfriend bit. I'm not even her... geez, what is _wrong _with me?'_   
  
Tifa, being the polite lady she was, replied "Sure!" and was lead to the dancefloor by adolescent-attracted-due-to-raging-hormones.   
  
Which left Reno at the bar, waiting on the drink. Bored, he scanned the crowd for a girl his type. He knew that girls looked at him, so he just stared right back. That one in the black tee and denim skirt? Maybe. The one sitting pretty in the seat a ways over? Very possibly. The one licking her lips and giving him looks? Kinda creepy. The one in the shocking blue top and black skirt with the long brown hair and sparkling red eyes... _'God! I'm doing it again!'_   
  
The drink was ready before Tifa came back, and when she did she seemed strangely... happy?   
  
"The people in here are so high energy!" she relayed the obvious to him. "That dance just got my adrenalin going!" and she took a gulp of the sunset. "What's wrong?"   
  
Reno looked up and gave his usual response, "Nothing."   
  
"No, it's not. You're not as... active as usual," she knew she sounded retarded, but was genuinely worried, coming off her adrenalin rush.   
  
And he was trying not to make her worried. So he took her tequila sunset in hand and drank some of it. He got off his stool and shot her a smile, walking away. "I'm fine. Go get another dance, there's probably a line waiting for you somewhere." he said, his voice warm, but still somewhat detached. He sauntered off, ready to cruise the crowd for someone that could take his mind off of _her_. _'I'm setting myself up for a fall by... falling for her...' _He sighed.   
  
Tifa sat at the bar as her eyes followed Reno through the crowd, trained on his wild hair. She saw him allowing himself to be distracted by a pretty girl in a black dress who stepped across his path on purpose. He ordered drinks for both of them. She talked animatedly to him, like she knew him, and before long, they sat, the girl at a table and Reno on an overstuffed chair.   
  
Tifa didn't want to watch them like some possessive -- her face heated up at the thought -- girlfriend, but her eyes couldn't help wandering over to where he sat.   
  
"Hey, you wanna dance?" an attractive brunette touched her arm.   
  
Tifa, feeling down now, politely declined. She took another swig of her drink, which was very un-Tifa-like, and not a wise thing to do with a tequila sunset. Regardless, nothing spilled, the only thing that had gone her way this evening.   
  
_'I've got to be the biggest loser in the world,' _she thought. _'I've got guys asking me to dance, and all I can think about is _him_. Here I am, pining over one of my friends, watching him like a hawk while he's talking to some girl,' _she silently mocked herself. _'Besides, he's a ladies man. He has girls falling all over him. So why would he want me? Why me when he has his pick out of pretty much every other girl in this place?' _Her eyes, unknown to herself, watered. A tear fell to the counter, moistening it. She whipped her head around to where she knew they'd be sitting, tears flying from her eyes. Reno was talking, gesturing with his hands occasionally. When he leaned over to get his drink, the girl caught his mouth with her own, and Tifa, not wanting to watch anymore, turned around again, feeling as if she'd been betrayed. _'Why did I fall for the one that doesn't want me?'_   
  
--------   
  
And that was how she got here. All the events that transpired in a mere hour running through her head, delighting her, embarassing her, hurting her. She felt sulky and pathetic, so she resolved to leave and apologize to Reno later. She swung off the stool, eyes on the exit.   
  
It was raining outside. It was like a scene from a movie, she thought. The rain was light enough so that it formed a sort of flowing film on windows, and whenever another drop hit, it formed a dent in the perfect surface and then became a part of that very surface. It was evident it had been raining for awhile. The rainwater was rushing slowly underground, pelting the street so it looked blacker than it was. She started towards the bus stop slowly, knowing it would take her too long to walk home and she silently wished that she had brought her coat. She was soaking already.   
  
"Tifa!"   
  
She turned around, trying to smile, but only suceeding in smiling sadly. "Reno." She saw him urgently jog up to her, shirt starting to stick to his body.   
  
"What are you _doing _out here?" he made strides toward her, and as much as she wanted to, she didn't pull away.   
  
"I... I'm..."   
  
"You're going to get sick is what!" Reno cut in. He desperately wanted to shelter her or hold her or... _something_. "What the hell are you thinking?"   
  
_'If he only he knew what I was thinking,' _she thought cynically.   
  
"I'm getting you home," he said, stern. "Come on," he took her hand and led her down the sidewalk, through the uneven curtain of rain.   
  
She froze there, again, just for a second. His hands were warm, despite his standing in the rain. They were toughened, but somehow still soft, like her own. She caught up, matching his stride perfectly, like it was her own too.   
  
He didn't let go of her hand.   
  
She didn't know what to say to him, this man she had an undeniable attraction to.   
  
And he didn't know either.   
  
Once that girl had kissed him back in the club, he immediately broke the kiss off and walked away. Feeling her lips, that was the thing that woke him up. The only person he wanted that feeling from was sitting at the bar with her head down. He trained his eyes on her, knowing now that he'd have to tell her. Tell her that he was falling in love with her. But she got up. She left the club.   
  
He shouted her name, but she seemed to be lost in thought. He pushed against the crowd and also against his own mind. _'What if she rejects you? What if she laughs in your face? What if she tells you that she could never, not in a million years, love you back?' _He felt nervous, something he had never felt before. How would he tell her? When would he tell her? It was when he saw her head drooped, soaked from head to toe, walking forlornly in the rain that he summoned up something inside himself to call out to her.   
  
And he had to do that again.   
  
"Teef?" he stopped walking abruptly, a few feet away from his car. He was still clutching her hand.   
  
She stopped beside him, "Y-yeah?"   
  
He caught her chin with his free hand and tilted it upwards so she looked him in the eyes. He took her other hand certainly. He was going to get it right.   
  
She felt her heart flutter, standing there, in the pouring rain with the most amazing pair of eyes she had ever dared to get lost in.   
  
"Teef, I'm not comfortable being your friend anymore."   
  
She let out a small 'oh' as her heart broke a little. She tried not to cry, willed herself to freeze her tears, like ice in a stream, just like all those times she had frozen looking into his eyes. Tears pooled in her own eyes anyway.   
  
He continued on, looking past her face, thinking to himself that he really wasn't the type for romantics. "I've often wondered before if love was just an illusion, just to get people through their worst days," he looked in her eyes and green held red for that moment. "But then I met you. You radiate this genuine care for everyone, which I'm not used to seeing these days. You just give and give and do it all so easily. Which," he smiled a little through the rain and summoned up that force inside of him again, "Is why I think I'm falling in love with you."   
  
She froze. And a second later, she started sobbing. She fell into him, surprising him, but he caught her, as always. He sat down with her, leaning against his car.   
  
She had her arms slung around his neck and her head buried in his chest. She felt so emotionally taxed. She slowly stopped shaking and leaned a little more into him, clearly tired. So she did the most natural thing. She fell asleep.   
  
He heard her even breathing and tried to peel her off him so he could put her in the backseat of his car, but she wouldn't let go. She was persistent, even when asleep. So he climbed clumsily into the backseat with her form leaning heavily on him, and they settled fairly comfortably in the car with the rain still drumming.   
  
To anyone else, the night would've been a disaster. Pulled from a party, sopping wet, down to the bone, in a car that was probably ruined from rainwater. But Reno looked at the figure laying on top of him and thought otherwise. It was perfect.   
  



End file.
